Learning from the life of a movie director
Review of “Something like an autobiography” by Akira Kurosawa
Books that made a lasting influence on me often come unplanned. When my ego was ruining my relationships and career without my awareness, I came across “The ego is the enemy”. When I felt discouraged about my career, “The war of art” and “Mastery” picked me up and got me going. Strangely, when I intentionally searched for more books of the same genre or author, the effect was never the same. It was as though particular books were meant to be there at just those very moments to guide me through my challenges.
“Something like an autobiography” is one of the books with that effect on me.
For half of the book, I wasn’t even sure why I was reading it. I didn’t know Akira Kurosaw and has never watched any of his movies. Also, I don’t usually read stories and this was the first autobiography I’ve ever read. It felt odd to go through fifty pages without highlighting anything.
Reading an autobiography is like living someone’s life through their eyes. That in itself is valuable for any designers who want to understand psychology and increase empathy with others. But Akira Kurosaw is also a creative and an artist. This means he has a unique perspective of the world around him and many of his struggles are relatable to the creatives.
His life taught me three important lessons about living and being an artist.
Empowerment through trust
The power of giving trust is life-changing.
A significant part of Akira’s success can be attributed to the people who put faith in him. One of the most touching stories in the book is when Akira received a postcard from an old man who watched his movie. That old man is his primary school’s art teacher, twenty-five years after their last meeting. Akira had a much slower intellectual development than his peers throughout his early education. Mr. Tachikawa, Akira’s art teacher, was the first person who praised his work when everyone was laughing at him. He also assigned Akira to be class president, which helped him fit in with his peers.
Later on, when Akira entered the film industry, he met a movie director who allows him to learn through mistakes, even if that means sacrificing the quality of his own movies. Without the trust of his mentor, Akira could not have developed his skills as much.
I’m reminded that we have the power to change others’ lives by giving them our trust. If we define project success solely by delivering perfect work to clients, we cast out the opportunities for junior people to make their own mistakes and grow from them.
Be patient with your career path
This lesson was perhaps the reason this book came to me. Truthfully, for months, I’ve felt unsure if design was the right career for me. I couldn’t think of myself as a designer or any specific job label.
Akira initially set out to be a painter. He pursued painting until he was twenty-five. The thought of entering the film industry never occurred to him, but when he read an ad for the position of assistant director, it aroused his interest. That ended up being the beginning of his filming career. All his past experiences have prepared him for this position; yet, he was completely unaware of it. It took him another seven years until he directed his first movie.
“I was thirty-two years old. At last I had climbed to the base of the peak I had to scale, and I stood gazing up at my mountain.
When I read this line, the weight of needing to know what I am doing suddenly got lifted. I don’t need to know what the future has in hold for me. I just need to do the best I can at present and have faith that all these experiences will take me to the right place.
As Akira’s father advised him, “If I would just wait calmly, my road in life would open up to me on its own accord”.
Face your fear
After the Great Kanto Earthquake and the massacre of over 6000 Korean residents immediately followed it, Akira’s brother took him out to see the aftermath scene. There laid every kind of corpses imaginable. The Sumidagawa River was dyed red with throngs of corpses pressed against its shores. Though the scene was horrifying, Akira’s brother forced him not to look away even as he started to faint.
“If you shut your eyes to a frightening sight, you end up being frightened. If you look at everything straight on, there is nothing to be afraid of.”
Fear leads us to do a lot of irrational things. The massacre of Korean residents was fuelled by fear. If we learn to look at our fear straight on, we can learn to overcome them.
Other lessons
The book is filled with wisdom. I can’t list all of them in details, but there are still some more quotes and stories from the book I want to share.
“If what I have said in my film is true, someone will understand.”
Our creative work shouldn’t aim to be understood or appreciated by everyone. We can only tell our truth and believe that we will find audiences who see the world the same way.
“When you are working under difficult conditions, you experience one hour’s labor as two or three.”
Hard work makes you feel you’ve put in more time than you have. Don’t work based on how you feel, but by how much you know you need to create quality work.
“Today, no matter how moving a scene is, no matter how stunning the actors’ performances are, I can watch with total calm collectedness. But there is something a little bit sad about this ability.”
This reminds me to appreciate being a beginner. Whenever I start learning something new, I feel so conscious and embarrassed about my mistakes that I forget to appreciate the thrill of being a beginner and doing something for the first time. That feeling will never come back.
“Although human beings are incapable of talking about themselves with total honesty, it is much harder to avoid the truth while pretending to be other people… There is nothing that says more about its creator than the work itself.”
We’re blinded by our egos, but we can look at our work to understand ourselves. I’ve found this true in understanding myself, but also in finding other artists who share similar values with me.
